Traveling Amongst Buggies

My husband works out in Amish country. In the midst of little country stores, shops that sell horse supplies, and big ol’ gardens is this big ugly factory. That’s where he works. He has to travel 35 minutes to get there everyday– and that time is longer if he gets stuck behind a tourist or an Amish buggy.

Last week he was laid off, so we had to go out there this Friday to pick up his paystub (from previous weeks). It’s a nice drive, if you like to look at the countryside. But a lot of his co-workers were running out there too and they were driving like they were racing to the finish line. We were getting passed left and right, which really irritated me. I get worried that someone is going to come over a hill and run smack dab into a buggy full of kids and BAM! That’s all she wrote for a whole family.

This has happened a couple of different times over the years. A friend of mine from high school is actually spending time in jail because he was speeding down a hill and hit a bunch of Amish kids– 9 died because of his carelessness. Another time some guy was speeding along and ran into the back of a buggy, killing a little baby and his mama. You’d think that people in this area would be more cautious when driving out among the buggies, but NO. There’s little regard for their safety because people that live here don’t care much for them. And the real idiots can’t stand them because they don’t have to pay any local taxes and yet are still using the roads. So, they don’t care if they scare the beejeesus out of a family. I’m pretty sure, though, they’d care if they spent time in the slammer like my friend from high school. Heh.

At any rate, we had breakfast at this little family-owned restaurant. A lot of tourists rave about Amish food and can’t seem to get enough of it. Bleh. I don’t care for it myself. It’s very bland and very fattening. Nothing special, in my opinion. I got some eggs and sausage and, well, they were just eggs (a little over cooked for my tastes) and sausage (which had fewer spices in it than I like, but that’s their way). The toast was made of thick bread, but then that’s typical too. It’s not really fresh, so you don’t get that “just from the bakery” taste (there’s a little bakery in Zoar that rocks socks, though). But the tourists were in there just going on about how awesome it was and raving over the apple butter. Ha! Next time I go on vacation I’m going to remember not to go ga-ga over the local cuisine, because it just seems a little over-the-top (especially when the food is not in the least bit interesting).

If you ever come to Ohio’s Amish country, skip the restaurants (the quilts are overpriced anyway– as is everything else). Hit up the wineries, though. Those are fun if just for the taste testing. The wine isn’t something that’s going to take over the world, but it’s pretty good and worth the quarter for testing (no free alcohol in Ohio). And if you see something that you just have to buy, don’t buy it from a little shop. You can probably find it in Wooster or Millersburg for a lot cheaper– at the Walmart or Dollar Store. Honestly, be careful because the Amish folk will overprice stuff. They’re not above a little price gouging.

And please drive carefully. There are children in those buggies and folks are just trying to get from here to there. Don’t be an idiot out there. Amish buggies are interesting, but to the people who ride in them they are transportation for the whole family. Keep that in mind.

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